Climate change research in partnership with Thoreau

In Professor Richard Primack's Lab at Boston University, we study the effects of climate change on the timing of seasonal biological events and species diversity. By teaming up with Henry David Thoreau and other local naturalists, we investigate how climate change is affecting plants, insects and birds right here in the Boston area.

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

On September 6, 1850 upon seeing a Great Blue Heron shot by a neighbor, Thoreau remarked “I am glad to recognize him for a native of America-- why not as an American citizen?”

Marine biologists investigating the effects of marine protected areas often catch and in the process kill large numbers of fish and invertebrates as bycatch that are not part of their study.

Seemingly benign activities such as photography and bird watching can have consequences. In this example, the photographer might be damaging juvenile plants and compacting the soil.

Animals should be handled in a way that minimizes stress.

Plant ecologists focusing on their particular study system typically do not acknowledge the considerable damage that they do, including trampling adjacent vegetation, compacting soil, and harming and frightening animal life.

Plant ecologists should take care to minimize their impact on the surrounding vegetation and ecosystem.

In a recent article in Biological Conservation entitled "Field work ethics in biological research" scientists are asked to conduct research in a way that minimizes harm to species and ecosystems. While research often does have an impact, scientists should not be content with simply following the requirements of government agencies or university committees, but should conduct research using the best possible practices.

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Congratulations to Richard Primack on being selected as this year's University Lecturer! Every year, Boston University selects one professor to present a lecture to the entire community on a topic of wide interest, and this year Dr. Primack has been selected.

Professor Primack will describe how his team has been using Henry David Thoreau’s records from the 1850s to document the earlier flowering and leafing out of plants, the earlier ice out at Walden Pond, and the more variable response of migratory birds. Wildflowers are also declining. And if Thoreau were alive today, what would he tell us to do about global warming? Primack’s lively and accessible talk about the local effects of climate change will be supported by beautiful photos and insightful quotes from Thoreau.

This work has received exceptional wide attention in the popular media, including the New York Times, National Geographic,and National Public Radio, and demonstrates the relevance of Thoreau’s legacy to contemporary issues.

Please join us for "Walden Warming: Climate Change Comes to Thoreau’s Woods" presented by Richard B. Primack. This event is open to the public!

Thursday, October 20, 2016

What does the combination of record high temperatures and low rainfall mean
for this year's New England fall foliage? Due to the drought, many trees had
their leaves turn yellow, or turn brown and fall off, even as early as August. Black birch
trees in particular had many yellow leaves appearing notably early, in late August.Some sugar maples also had branches turn
yellow or orange in early September. On the other hand, for many trees growing in moist ground where the effects of the drought have been less pronounced, leaves are actually changing color later than usual due to warm temperatures!

A sugar maple with some branches that changed color early

Overall, this year's leaf peeping season will probably be more extended than in a typical year, with both earlier and later colorful foliage. With trees changing color at different times, plus more brown and dull changing leaves, this year's fall foliage is likely to be less vibrant and beautiful than usual.

A flowering dogwood with dull and drooping autumn leaves

Another notable feature of this year is the number of leafy
twigs from oak trees littering the forest floor. It seems likely that many of
these leafy branches were dropped to the ground by squirrels, which clipped
the branches to more easily eat the acorns at the twig tips.

Sunday, September 25, 2016

“There is now a remarkable drought. Many white birches long since lost a greater part of their leaves, which cover the ground.”

-Thoreau’s Journals. August 19, 1854.

Eastern Massachusetts is experiencing an extreme drought, with less than half the normal amount of summer rain. The average August temperature was 6 degrees Fahrenheit above normal, making it the hottest August on record. The combination of low rainfall and hot days has dried the landscape and stopped flows in streams and springs. What does this mean to the plants and animals of the Boston area?Unwatered lawns and playing fields are brown. Numerous shrubs and trees in yards and roadsides have died; many branches have withered. The forest has an autumn look as the leaves turn yellow. Wildflowers like hawkweed and aster have drooping leaves and have stopped producing new flowers. Even if the rains resume, it is too late for these plants; they are finished for the year.

Corn drying out in an unwatered field

The lack of rain means that most of the young fruits and nuts have shriveled or fallen from shrubs and trees. Birds, squirrels, chipmunks and other animals have nothing to eat, and many birds have started their southward migrations earlier in the autumn, leaving the forests quiet. No rain also means no mushrooms; it is a terrible year for mushroom hunters. Insects in our fields and forests are also faring poorly due to the dry conditions and lack of flowers. This year there are almost no mosquitoes and flies, and relatively few butterflies. Bees and other insects are concentrated in well-watered gardens where there are flowers. Hummingbird feeders are another center of activity, for hungry hummingbirds, woodpeckers, and wasps.

Downy Woodpecker at a hummingbird feeder

Extreme seasons and events such as the summer of 2016 show how a changing climate will affect the natural world and our lives, and provides an example of why we need to get involved to slow and stop (and unfortunately, adapt to) climate change.Longer versions of this post were published in the Newton Tab and the Concord Journal.

Thursday, September 1, 2016

“I am glad to recognize [a great blue heron] for a native of America—why not as an American citizen?” -Henry David Thoreau

Compared to common red-backed salamanders, yellow-spotted salamanders are massive. They are 4-6 inches long, have the girth of an index finger, and look almost pudgy. People usually see adult spotted salamanders only on the first warm rainy nights of March, when they migrate to breed in vernal ponds—small ponds that dry out in summer and lack predatory fish. When the pools dry out in summer, the young salamanders depart for the surrounding forests where they burrow in the ground and are rarely seen.

In Newton, yellow-spotted salamanders live most abundantly just west of Hammond Pond Parkway in the Webster Woods and breed at Bare Pond. It is called Bare Pond because it dries out or is “bare” during the summer. It is hard to know how many yellow-spotted salamanders live in Webster Woods, but a reasonable guess would be several hundred adults. Spotted salamanders are protected by Massachusetts state law; people are not allowed to collect or possess spotted salamanders, and vernal pool habitats and the surrounding forest are given some enhanced protections.The future of Bare Pond and the surrounding upland forest habitat where adult yellow-spotted salamanders live, now hangs in the balance with the recent sale of a large part of the Webster Woods to Boston College. Developing any of the land just beyond the pond could directly harm spotted salamanders living in the ground and indirectly damage the water quality of the pond. Action is urgently needed to protect a unique natural area in the Webster Woods for the yellow-spotted salamander, other forest creatures, and future generations of Newton residents who enjoy nature.A longer version of this article was published in the Newton Tab.

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

The Ecological Society of
America Meeting each August is a chance to engage in the larger community of
ecologists, to connect our work with our colleagues, and to hear about the
exciting new research emerging across our discipline. At recent ESA meetings, I’ve
enjoyed the growing conversation, the so-called “meeting-within-a-meeting,” that
pops up on twitter and social media during ESA. Live-tweets and blogged recaps
provide a new level of engagement at ESA — alerting me to talks I might
otherwise miss in the sea of concurrent sessions, or allowing me to catch a
presentation, even if I can’t be physically present for it.

A sampling of my live-tweets from the Climate Change: Ranges and Phenology II Session

I had expected that the live-tweeting and blogging would make me a little frantic and prone to distraction, but I noticed instead that the Ecology Reporting Fellowship forced me to sit still. I was tied to a single session for the whole morning while I live-tweeted, instead of racing from one concurrent session to the next. This made my ESA experience both less and more spontaneous. I didn’t just wander from room to room as I have in the past; I had a strict schedule and little time to happen upon amazing talks from outside my corner of the ecology world. At past ESAs I have had incredible wander-luck: I actually found Richard Primack this way at ESA 2010, and I likely wouldn’t know about Robin Wall Kimmerer’s incredible writing or Eric Sanderson’s Welikia project if I hadn’t gotten lost in the corner of the convention center near their ESA sessions. But tweeting in place all the way through a session forced me to sit through talks that in previous years I would likely miss. I work exclusively in temperate ecosystems, but I stayed through the Climate Change: Ranges and Phenology talks that focused on Mediterranean and Semi-Arid and Savanna Type (SAST) biomes and watched engaging speakers tackle questions that are surprisingly relevant to my research. The blog post on common garden methodology grew organically out of sitting through the first Climate Change: Ranges and Phenology session on Monday afternoon. In previous years I likely would not have seen the repeated use of common gardens in various study systems, I would have jumped into the room for a talk or two, and then left to find coffee, or a talk on temperate plants or National Parks. The work of sitting, staying, and making deeper connections across talks in the same room would be valuable for anyone, whether or not they were live tweeting the session.

Tweeting from my own account while I took notes for a blog post — the conversation expands beyond ESA to people who were not in Florida!

Science communication begins with communicating among scientists. ESA is an opportunity for ecologists to share their work with each other, and many ecologists rose to the occasion with clear, engaging, and memorable presentations. From a social media perspective, I found that the best tweets and the best blog copy were often snippets of behind-the-scenes stories that were included in presentations, but would likely not make it into a publication. For example, Emily Meineke introduced her talk tracking evidence of herbivory captured in herbarium specimens by confessing the kitchen-table-procrastination origin story of her project. Nicole Rafferty asked the audience to imagine a grocery store in a future without pollinators before talking about her experiments tracing plant-pollinator migrations upslope in Colorado. The ESA Meeting is clearly full of creative science communicators: Fort Lauderdale featured a Fashion Show, a The-Moth-style evening of live story-telling, and a whole session of Up Goer Five talks. But in my opinion, some of the best story-telling took place in the small moments within traditional talks, and I hope my social media coverage of ESA celebrated and elevated these wonderful moments to the larger online community.